A lot has been said about gun control over the last few months and, I daresay, a lot more will be said as time continues. Most of what has been said, printed, displayed or even thought is based on personal opinion, very few of those who have anything to say, and the means to get their message across, are unbiased, very few indeed are prepared to see the other side or even consider their arguments. And, of course, there is an abundance of misinformation doing the rounds which everyone plays on, each according to their own preformed opinion.

In my fairly recent post Control: Time For More Gun Responsibility I laid out what I think should be considered. You will notice, from my post, that at no time did I say any particular form of weaponry should be banned, merely that everything has its correct place in the order of things. I called for more responsibility of gun owners and, above all, for better training, mandatory training.

I stick by this.

Responsibility is not just a personal matter, it is something for everyone, not just the person carrying a weapon but also all those around them and their personal security. Personal security does not mean that a person needs to carry a high caliber assault rifle with them when shopping at the Mall, or that they need a complete arsenal of weapons at home.

No, owning a gun is not necessarily a bad idea, but tell me, is owning an assault rifle going to help you in any way? Will you be able to move enough to open your purse and get out your double-gauge shotgun to defend yourself while pinned to the ground with a hand around your throat? Is a gun the only means available to defend yourself in such a situation?

Training was one of my main points, and continual training at that. I doubt that most of the women in this (humorous) video have had too many hours on the range learning how to even hold a shotgun, let alone how to fire one correctly. I know that I wouldn’t be able to just pick up a shotgun and blast tin cans off a wall, let alone hit the proverbial barn door from three paces. A shotgun may well be good for defending your home against intruders, but it is still not ideal and it is certainly not suitable for everyone in your household, so why not go the more sensible way?

And this is the final problem, sometimes there is simply no way out, sometimes there can be no defense. As bad as it may seem, sometimes you simply cannot win, no matter what you have in your arsenal, no matter how well trained you are. Sometimes it is a case of getting through, of surviving, and then getting back at that person, or those people, through other means, through legal means.

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Pinned to the ground, struggling to breathe? Pretend you can have any past you wish, assume a professional mugger and pick the best strategy:

1- Yes Mr. Thief Sir, as soon as I can breathe again, I will give you everything I have. Please note that I have a real Rolex in my car: you can have that too.

2- Fighting every reflex you have to clutch his wrist and try to breathe, you use your third-dan judo black belt to tear off his left ear (pull upwards, about two kilos of tensile strength) then wrestle him to the ground, control him, then shout “FIRE!” at the top of your lungs. Alternatively, you can kick him in the balls so he does the shouting for you.

3- Fighting every reflex you have to clutch his wrist and try to breathe, you reach for your .38 (higher calibers are likely to kill you as well), make sure it is loaded, unlock the safety, cock it, and fire a gentle warning shot into his brain.

1- The odds are very good you will come out unharmed (99 out of 100). Thieves appreciate cooperation and do not hang around to harm victims.

2- You are better than half dead and probably very hurt: were was your judo when you got pinned on the ground and choked? The thief is much better than you are at street fighting. The ear trick works well with rapists (a different discussion.)

3- Notify your next of kin. You are arming the thief (remember you are the one pinned on the ground, not him?) You will die, and from your own weapon, in 9 cases out of ten.

4- See number 1, adding a few bruises for not offering cooperation. Pretty good.

The sad thing is there is often little you can do to avoid an attack. If someone is determined, they will try, no matter what a person is wearing. The idea – my thoughts here – that a weapon will help once you’ve been pinned down is that by then it is too late. This, however, was the thought JJ (not her real name, of course!) had, that a weapon would have saved her. It might have done, but not once she was down on the ground.

JJ may be different but my experience is that victims have a problem that is incredibly difficult to solve: they do not want to hurt the rapist.

You read that right.

Women should not have to worry about avoiding attacks but, life being what it is, a can of bear spray should be in every purse. I know it is illegal in most jurisdictions. I also know that no sane judge ever jailed a woman who had a legitimate reason to use it. What is nice about bear spray is that it will drop twenty attackers as easily as one.

I taught anti-rape self-defense for about ten years after one of my best friends was brutally sodomised by a gentleman who climbed through her window. He fell asleep. She stayed there. He woke up and sodomised her again. She could not bring herself to hurt him. At the time, she had a third dan karate black belt and could break bricks with her forehead.

So, I decided to teach. The first five hours were about understanding pain and how useful it can be to inflict a little bit upon others to avoid a lifetime of your own. I confess to a modest 50% success rate but every woman counts.